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NAPOLEON 



'ONAPARTE 



WAS HE THE MAN OF 
POPULAR HISTORY 




BY 



JAMES AUGUSTUS EDW 



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'T'hE design ^vh'ich appears upon the front cover of 
this hook has been selected as being most appro- 
priate, in that it represents Napoleon s favorite flower , 
and shows at the right Napoleon s profile^ at the left 
that of Marie Louise^ and in the lower center that oj 
the King of Rome. 



Of this book but one hundred copies 
were printed and the type distributed. Each 
copy is numhered and signed — this copy is 
unmber 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 



WAS HE THE MAN OF 
POPULAR HISTORY? 



•»H "• 




NAPOLEON, FIRST CONSUL 



NAPOLEON 
BONAPARTE 

Was he the Man of Popular 
History f 



BY 



JAMES AUGUSTUS EDWARDS 



» 



PRINTED FOR PRIVATE CIR- 
CULATION AT THE LAKESIDE 
PRESS, CHICAGO, MDCCCXCIX 



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Copyright, 1899 
By JAMES A. EDWARDS 



TO MY WIFE 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

WAS HE THE MAN OF POPULAR HISTORY? 



It is greatly to be regretted that the 
character of Napoleon Bonaparte is so 
misunderstood and generally condemned. 
History does not contain a personage so 
fascinating and at the same time more in- 
teresting, about whom there is such a diver- 
sity of opinion. 

That this is so, is largely due to the Eng- 
lish, who pursued him with relentless 
hatred, misrepresenting his character, ridi- 
culing his motives, and finally contributing 
more largely than any other nation to his 
downfall. 

The exaggerated statements of his enemies 
were received with avidity, and, where it 
was possible, enlarged upon and given the 
greatest publicity by the press, and from 

9 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

repeated reiterations finally became accepted 
as historical facts, and were and are to this 
day used in most accounts of his life. It is 
from these that the general reader has 
formed his or her opinion, and while time 
has discovered many official documents and 
much private correspondence which stamp 
most of these so-called anecdotes and acts 
as without foundation, gradually a clearer 
conception of his character is becoming 
more possible; nevertheless, as is usually 
the case, the contradiction of a statement is 
never given the same publicity or as widely 
read as is the original statement, especially 
where a wrong is to be corrected; therefore, 
it is not as generally known that these reports 
were the " invention of the enemy." 

Again, Napoleon is placed at a great dis- 
advantage by being judged from a nineteenth- 
century standpoint. Is it not absolutely 
impossible after a lapse of a hundred years 
of unprecedented advancement in science, 
literature and art, to calmly sit in judgment 
on Napoleon's motives and intentions, and 

lO 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

give him a fair trial? Would it not be more 
just to compare him with his contempora- 
ries, Alexander I of Russia, Francis II of 
Austria, Frederick William III of Prussia, 
and George IV of England, taking into 
consideration the conditions and traditions 
of the times, and, what is equally important, 
the condition of the people, both morally 
and intellectually? It should be borne in 
mind that Napoleon appeared on the scene 
of action, following the profligate reign of 
Louis XV and the degenerate reign of 
Louis XVI, at a time that made the French 
Revolution a possibility, and later, a stern 
reality; when the army was the power be- 
hind the throne, whose influence was over- 
whelming; when law was trampled under 
foot and set at defiance by the King and 
his courtiers. To these, life was a long 
holiday of riotous pleasure and voluptuous- 
ness. Religion had become a byword and 
jest, and it was the fashion to be both a 
scoffer and an unbeliever. The people 
had no rights that were respected, and 

II 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

finally new indignities and additional taxa- 
tion being more than they could bear, after 
years of suffering they rebelled. One 
extreme followed another; in proportion to 
the severity with which they had been held 
in bondage, in the same ratio did they riot 
when liberated by the Revolution. How 
true it is, that in the times of the greatest 
emergencies in the histories of the various 
nations, when law and order seemed threat- 
ened with annihilation, nature appears to 
have foreseen the crisis, and to have fur- 
nished characters that restored peace and 
brought order out of chaos. Such were 
Cromwell, Washington, Napoleon and Lin- 
coln. How often we have heard the ques- 
tion: " How was France benefited by Napo- 
leon?" Did he not give her a religion, and 
force her to respect it? Did he not give to 
France and the world the Code Napoleon? 
Both of these great undertakings were 
accomplished in ten years. Can we recall 
another ruler, either before or since, that 
accomplished more? Since it is impossible 

12 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

for us to retrocede a century and judge 
with the same feelings as of that time, let 
us consult a few of his contemporaries, and 
if possible from their opinions derive more 
light as to the character of the man, rather 
than the monarch; and let us hope that in 
time posterity will give to Napoleon the 
credit that is due him, and perceive that he 
was richly endowed with the milk of human 
kindness, but that on account of the pecu- 
liar position he occupied, was not permitted 
at all times to give vent to his better feel- 
ings. I make no pretensions to independent 
or original research, but simply wish to lay 
before you briefly the opinion of a number 
of authorities, some of whom, on account of 
their close connections with Napoleon, can- 
not be passed over lightly, and which it is 
hoped will be of interest. 

The following is from Henri Taine's re- 
markable essay on Napoleon : 

" He is not only out of the common run, 
but there is no standard of measurement for 
him ; through his temperament, instincts, 

13 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

faculties, imagination, passions, and moral 
constitution, he seems cast in a different 
mould, composed of another metal than that 
which enters into a composition of his fel- 
lows and contemporaries. Evidently, he is 
not a Frenchman, nor a man of the eighteenth 
century; he belongs to another race and an- 
other epoch; we detect in him, at the first 
glance, the foreigner, the Italian, and some- 
thing more apart and beyond these, surpris- 
ing all similitude and analogy. Extraordinary 
and superior, made to command and to con- 
quer." 

Madame de Stael says: " Every time I 
heard him talk I was struck with his superi- 
ority and soon found that his character was 
not to be described in terms commonly em- 
ployed." 

Roeder (Deputy) who saw Bonaparte 
daily at the meetings of the Council of 
State, and who noted every evening the im- 
pressions of the day, says: " Punctual at 
every sitting, prolonging the sessions five or 
six hours, discussing before and afterward 

H 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

the subjects brought forward, always return- 
ing to two questions, * Is that just? Is that 
useful?' Never did the Council adjourn 
without its members knowing more than the 
day before." 

Following is an extract from Josephine to 
her daughter, Hortense: 

" How could you conceive that I partici- 
pate in such ridiculous, or, perhaps, malicious 
opinions? No! you do not think that I be- 
lieve you to be my rival. We, indeed, both 
reign in the same bosom, though by very 
different, yet equally sacred right, and they 
who, in the affection which my husband 
manifests for you, have pretended to dis- 
cover other sentiments than those of a parent 
and a friend, know not his soul. His is a 
mind too elevated above the vulgar ever to 
be accessible to the passions. That of glory, 
if you will, engrosses him too entirely for 
our repose, but at least glory inspires noth- 
ing vile. Such are my professions of faith." 

Extracts from a letter written by Jose- 
phine to the Countess de Girardin: 

15 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

"The Emperor, indignant at the total dis- 
regard of morality, and alarmed at the 
progress it might still make, is resolved that 
the example of a life of regularity and of 
religion shall be given in the palace where 
he commands, desirous of strengthening 
more and more the church re-established by 
himself." 

De Sainte Amand says: " Much has been 
said about the pride of Napoleon; on this 
score we must distinguish the different per- 
sons in him — the public man, and private 
individual. The public man was compelled 
to assume more majesty than any other sov- 
ereign; the more recent the grandeur, the 
more formal he was obliged to be. The 
General, when he became Emperor, had to 
keep at a distance those old companions in 
arms who formerly were his equals and 
treated him as a comrade. Familiarity 
would have been an attack on his prestige, 
and would have lessened his authority. In 
the presence of the court he had to be a liv- 
ing statue, never coming down from his 

i6 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

pedestal But the private indi- 
vidual in no way resembled the public man. 
When he entered his home, he laid aside his 
commanding gravity as a uniform, which 
one takes off in order to be at ease; he be- 
came affable and familiar. He joked some- 
times, even somewhat noisily. He was no 
longer a proud potentate, a terrible con- 
queror; he was a good husband who rejoiced 
with his wife, a good father devoted to his 
child." 

His valet, Constant, tells us: " As a father 
and a husband. Napoleon might have served 
as a model to all his subjects." 

General the Count de Sagur said: "In 
his private relations. Napoleon was quiet 
and confiding, taking especial pleasure in 
men of honor, whose delicacy and honesty 
were beyond doubt, as well as irreproachable 
women." 

Capt. F. L. Maitland, in his narration of 
the surrender of Bonaparte, and of his resi- 
dence on board the Bellerophone, says: '* It 
may appear surprising that a possibility 

17 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

could exist of a British officer being preju- 
diced in favor of one who had caused so 
many calamities to his country, but to such 
an extent did he possess the power of pleas- 
ing, that there are few people who could 
have sat at the same table with him for a 
month, as did I, without feeling a sensation 
of pity, allied perhaps to regret, that a man 
possessed of so many fascinating qualities, 
and having held so high a station in life, 
should be reduced to the situation in which 
I saw him." Again Captain Maitland says: 
"One morning, he (Napoleon) began to 
talk of his wife and child, and desired 
Marchand to bring him two or three minia- 
ture pictures to show me; he spoke of them 
with much feeling and affection. * I feel,' 
said he, ' the conduct of the allied Sover- 
eigns to be more cruel and unjustifiable to- 
wards me in that respect than in any other. 
Why should they deprive me of the com- 
forts of domestic society, and take from me 
what must be the dearest objects of affection 
to every man, my child, and the mother of 

i8 




EMPEKOK NAPOLKON 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

my child?' On his expressing himself as 
above, I looked him steadily in the face to 
observe whether he showed any emotion. 
The tears were standing in his eyes, and the 
whole of his countenance appeared evidently 
under the influence of a strong feeling of 
regret." 

* The following are extracts from letters 
written by Marie Louise to her father, the 
Emperor of Austria, (1810): 

•*I assure you, dear papa, that the Em- 
peror (Napoleon) has been much calumni- 
ated. The more intimately one sees him, 
the more one appreciates and loves him." 
April 21, 181 1, she wrote as follows: 

** My Dear Father: You may imagine 
my immense happiness. I could never be- 
lieve that I could experience such joy. My 
affection for mv husband has increased, if 
such a thing were possible, since the birth 
of his son. I am still moved to tears when 
I think of all the marks of tenderness he 
has shown me; these marks would attach 

*De Sainte Amand. 

19 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 



me to him, even if I had not already been 
so by reason of all of his good qualities." 

In announcing the birth of his son, on re- 
turning to his room. Napoleon said: "Well, 
gentlemen, we have a fine vigorous boy;" 
and added, with profound tenderness, " My 
dear wife, how courageous she was, and 
how she suffered; I would rather have no 
more children, than to see her suffer so 
again." 

Baron de Menerval in his memoirs says: 
" Even when most displeased. Napoleon 
never gave way to ridiculous passion. Great 
was his dignity, and greatly as he com- 
manded respect in public audience, and 
under solemn circumstances, so greatly was 
he easy, familiar and gay in private life. 
An active benevolence which sprang from 
his heart, as much when he was vexed as 
when he was pleased, was felt by his own 
people, by his ministers, and by his officers, 
and his servants. In short, very often his 
graciousness and his favor went out to 
seek first some and then others, at times 

20 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

when they least expected it." And again, 
the same writer says: 

" How often have I watched the Emperor 
keeping his son at his side, as though he 
were impatient to initiate him in the art of 
government; either seated on his favorite 
settee near the mantelpiece, which was 
decorated with two magnificent bronze busts 
of Scipio and Hannibal, occupied in reading 
some important report, or going to his 
writing table, which was cut out like wings, 
to sign a dispatch, each word of which had 
to be weighed; his son, seated on his knee, 
or pressed against his bosom, never left him. 
Endowed with a marvelous power of con- 
centration, Napoleon was able at one and the 
same time to attend to serious matters, and 
to lend himself to a child's fancies. Some- 
times, putting aside all his preoccupation, 
he would lie down on the floor at the side 
of his darling son, and play with him as a 
child himself, looking out for what would 
amuse him, or spare him vexation." 

The Duchess d' Abrantes in her memoirs 

21 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

says: "The Emperor, notwithstanding his 
immense genius, had a weak side, which 
chained him to humanity." 

The following will give us an idea of 
Napoleon's religious views: Menerval says, 
" Napoleon loved his religion, and wished to 
honor it, and render it prosperous. This is 
proved by the concordat." 

The Duchess d' Abrantes tells us that on 
Napoleon's return from Elba, while at 
Grenoble he was introduced to a curate. 
"Ah, is it you, M. le Cure," said Napoleon, 
" who spoke so injuriously of me every Sun- 
day in your sermons to the cook maids?" 
"Ah, Mon Dieu," answered the troubled 

ecclesiastic, " I assure you sire " "Oh, 

I know you are a good priest; go on if it 
amuses you. I permit liberty of worship." 
The poor curate remained stupefied. Napo- 
leon seeing him so unhappy said, "Come, 
think no more of it, only be kind and char- 
itable towards all. That is the true law of 
Jesus Christ." 

Napoleon, April the 15th, 1821, in his 

22 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

will declares as follows: " I die in the apos- 
tolic Roman religion, in the bosom of which 
I was born, more than fifty years ago." 

The testimony of Napoleon to the divin- 
ity of Christ. 

In a conversation with General Bertrand 
at St. Helena, Napoleon said as follows: 

"I know men, and I tell you that Jesus 
Christ is not a man. Superficial minds see 
a resemblance between Christ and the found- 
ers of empires and the gods of other reli- 
gions. That resemblance does not exist. 
There is between Christianity and whatever 
other religion the distance of infinity. 

"We can say to the authors of every 
other religion: * You are neither gods nor 
the agents of Deity. You are but mission- 
aries of falsehood, molded from the same 
clay with the rest of mortals. You are 
made with all the passions and vices insepa- 
rable from them. Your temples and your 
priests proclaim your origin.' Such will be 
the judgment, the cry of conscience of who- 



23 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 



ever examines the gods and the temples of 
paganism. 

" Paganism was never accepted as truth 
by the wise men of Greece, neither by Soc- 
rates, Pythagoras, Plato, Anaxagoras or 
Pericles. But on the other side, the lofti- 
est intellects since the advent of Christianity 
have had faith, a living faith, a practical 
faith in the mysteries and the doctrines of 
the Gospel; not^only Bossuet and Feneleon, 
who were preachers, but Descartes and 
Newton, Leibnitz and Pascal, Corneille and 
Racine, Charlemagne and Louis XIV. 

"Paganism is the work of man. One 
can here read but our imbecility. What do 
these gods, so boastful, know more than 
other mortals? These legislators, Greek or 
Roman? This Numa? This Lycurgus? 
These priests of India or of Memphis? 
This Confucius? This Mohammed? Abso- 
lutely nothing. There is not one among 
all who said anything new in reference to 
our future destiny, to the soul, to the 
essence of God, to the creation. Enter 

24 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 



the sanctuaries of Paganism — you there 
find perfect chaos, a thousand contradic- 
tions, war between the gods, the immobility 
of sculpture, the division and rending of 
unity, the parceling out of the divine attri- 
butes, mutilated or denied in their essence, 
the sophisms of ignorance and presumption, 
polluted fetes, impurity and abomination 
adored, all sorts of corruption festering in 
the thick shades, with the rotten wood, the 
idol and his priests. Does this honor God, 
or does it dishonor Him? Are these reli- 
gions and these gods to be compared with 
Christianity? 

'* As for me, I say. No. I summon entire 
Olympus to my tribunal. I judge the gods, 
but am far from prostrating myself before 
their vain images. The gods, the legislators 
of India and of China, of Rome and of 
Athens, have nothing which can overawe 
me. Not that I am unjust to them; no, I 
appreciate them, because I know their value. 
Undeniably princes whose existence is fixed 
in the memory as an image of order and of 

25 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

power, as the ideal of force and beauty; 
such princes were no ordinary men. 

" I see in Lycurgus, Numa and Moham- 
med only legislators, who, having the first 
rank in the state, have sought the best solu- 
tion of the social problem; but I see noth- 
ing there which reveals divinity. They 
themselves have never raised their preten- 
sions so high. As for me, I recognize the 
gods and these great men as beings like 
myself. They have performed a lofty part 
in their times, as I have done. Nothing 
announces them divine. On the contrary, 
there are numerous resemblances between 
them and myself, foibles and errors which 
ally them to me, and to humanity. 

" It is not so with Christ. Everything in 
Him astonishes me. Between Him and 
whoever else in the world there is no possi- 
ble term of comparison. He is truly a 
Being of Himself. His ideas and His sen- 
timents, the truths which He announces. His 
manner of convincing, are not explained 



26 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

either by human organization or by nature 
of things. 

" His birth, and the history of His life; 
the profundity of His doctrines, which grap- 
ple the mightiest difficulties, and which is, 
of those difficulties, the most admirable solu- 
tion; His gospel. His apparition. His em- 
pire, His march across the ages and the 
realms, everything, is for me a prodigy, a 
mystery insoluble, which plunges me into a 
reverie from which I cannot escape; a mys- 
tery which is there before my eyes, a mys- 
tery which I can neither deny nor explain. 
Here I see nothing human. 

** The nearer I approach, the more care- 
fully I examine, everything is above me, 
everything remains grand — of a grandeur 
which overpowers. His religion is a revela- 
tion from an intelligence which certainly is 
not that of man. There is there a profound 
originality, which has created a series of 
words and maxims before unknown. Jesus 
borrowed nothing from our sciences. One 
can absolutely find nowhere, but in Him 

27 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

alone, the imitation or the example of His 
life. He is not a philosopher, since He ad- 
vances by miracles, and from the com- 
mencement His disciples worshiped Him. 
He persuades them far more by an appeal 
to the heart than by any display of method 
and of logic. Neither did He impose upon 
them any preliminary studies or any knowl- 
edge of letters. All of His religion con- 
sists in believing. 

" In fact, the sciences and philosophy 
avail nothing for salvation; and Jesus came 
into the world to reveal the mysteries of 
Heaven and the laws of the spirit. Also, 
he had nothing to do with but the soul, and 
to that alone He brings His Gospel. The soul 
is sufificient for Him, as He is sufficient for 
the soul. Before Him the soul was nothing. 
Matter and time were the masters of the 
world. At His voice everything returns to 
order. Science and philosophy become sec- 
ondary. The soul has conquered its sover- 
eignty. All the scholastic scaffolding falls, as 
an edifice ruined, before one single ysford, faith. 

28 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

"What a master and what a word, which 
can effect such a revolution! With what 
authority does he teach men to pray? He 
imposes His belief, and no one, thus far, 
has been able to contradict Him; first, be- 
cause the Gospel contains the purest moral- 
ity, and also, because the doctrine which it 
contains of obscurity, is only the proclama- 
tion and the truth of that which exists 
where no eye can see, and no reason can 
penetrate. Who is the insensate who will 
say no to the intrepid voyager who recounts 
the marvels of the icy peaks which he alone 
has had the boldness to visit? Christ is 
that bold voyager. One can doubtless re- 
main incredulous, but no one can venture to 
say, // is not so. 

"Moreover consult the philosophers upon 
those mysterious questions, which relate to 
the essence of man and to the essence of 
religion. What is their response? Where 
is the man of good sense who has ever 
learned anything from the system of meta- 
physics, ancient or modern, which is not 

29 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

truly a vain and pompous idealogy, without 
any connection with our domestic life, with 
our passions? Unquestionably, with skill 
of thinking, one can seize the key of the 
philosophy of Socrates and Plato; but, to 
do this, it is necessary to be a metaphysician; 
and moreover, with years of study, one 
must possess special aptitude. But, good 
sense alone, the heart, and honest spirit, are 
sufficient to comprehend Christianity. 

" The Christian religion is neither ideal- 
ogy nor metaphysics, but a practical rule 
which directs the actions of man, counsels 
him, and assists him in all his conduct. 
The Bible contains a complete series of 
facts and of historical men, to explain time 
and eternity, such as no other religion has 
to offer. If this is not the true religion, one 
is very excusable in being deceived, for 
ever3^thing in it is grand and worthy of 
God. I search in vain in history to find the 
similar to Jesus Christ, or anything which 
can approach the Gospel. Neither history, 
nor humanity, nor the ages, nor nature, can 

30 




NAPOLEON, EMPEROR AND KING 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

offer me anything, with which I am able to 
compare it or explain it. Here everything 
is extraordinary. The more I consider the 
Gospel, the more I am assured there is noth- 
ing there which is not beyond the march of 
events and above the human mind. Even 
the impious themselves have never dared 
to deny the sublimity of the Gospel, which 
inspires them with a sort of compulsory 
veneration. What happiness that book pro- 
cures for them who believe it! What 
marvels those admire there who reflect 
upon it! Book unique, where the mind 
finds a moral beauty before unknown, and 
an idea of the Supreme superior even to 
that which creation suggests. Who but 
God could procure that type, that ideal of 
perfection, equally exclusive and original? 

" Christ, having but a few weak disciples, 
was condemned to death. He dies the 
object of the wrath of the Jewish priests and 
the contempt of the nation, and abandoned 
and denied by His own disciples. 

** ' They are about to take me, and to 

31 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 



crucify me,' said He. ' I shall be abandoned 
of all the world. My chief disciple will 
deny me at the commencement of my 
punishment. I shall be left to the wicked. 
But, then, divine justice being satisfied, 
original sin being expiated by my suffer- 
ings, the bond of man and God will be 
renewed, and my death will be the life of 
my disciples. Then they will be more 
strong without me than with me, for they 
will see me rise again. I shall ascend to 
the skies, and I shall send them from 
heaven a spirit who will instruct them. The 
spirit of the cross will enable them to under- 
stand my Gospel. In fine, they will believe 
it, they will preach it, and they will convert 
the world.' 

" And this strange promise, so aptly 
called by Paul, the ' foolishness of the 
Cross'; this prediction of the miserable 
crucified, is literally accomplished, and the 
mode of the accomplishment is, perhaps, 
more prodigious than the promise. 

" It is not a day nor a battle which has 

32 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

decided it. Is it the lifetime of a man? 
No, it is a war, a long combat of three 
hundred years, commenced by the apostles, 
and continued by their successors, and by 
succeeding generations of Christians. In 
this conflict all the kings and all the forces 
of the earth were arrayed on one side. 
Upon the other I see no army, but a mys- 
terious energy, individuals scattered here 
and there in all parts of the globe, having 
no other rallying sign than a common faith 
in the mysteries of the cross. 

"What a mysterious symbol! The instru- 
ment of the punishment of the man-God. 
His disciples were armed with it. * The 
Christ,' they said, ' God has died for the 
salvation of men.' What a strife, what a 
tempest, these words have raised around the 
humble standard of the sufferings of the 
man-God! On the one side, we see rage 
and all the furies of hatred and violence; 
on the other, there is gentleness, moral 
courage, infinite resignation. For three 
hundred years spirit struggled against 

33 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

brutality of sense, the conscience against 
despotism, the soul against the body, virtue 
against all the vices. The blood of Chris- 
tians flowed in torrents. They died kissing 
the hand which slew them. The soul alone 
protested, while the body surrendered itself 
to all tortures. Everywhere Christians fell, 
and everywhere they triumphed. 

"You speak of Caesar, of Alexander; of 
their conquests, and of the enthusiasm they 
enkindled in the hearts of their soldiers; 
but can you conceive of a dead man making 
conquests with an army faithful and entirely 
devoted to his memory? My armies have 
forgotten me, even while living, as the Car- 
thaginian arm}^ forgot Hannibal. Such is 
our power. A single battle lost crushes us, 
and adversity scatters our friends. 

*' Can you conceive of Caesar, the eternal 
Emperor of the Roman senate, and from 
the depths of his mausoleum governing the 
Empire, watching over the destinies of 
Rome? Such is the history of the invasion 
and conquest of the world by Christianity. 

34 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

Such is the power of the God of the Chris- 
tians; and such is the perpetual miracle of 
the progress of the faith and of the govern- 
ment of His Church. Nations pass away, 
thrones crumble, but the Church remains. 
What is, then, the power that has protected 
the Church, thus assailed by the furious bil- 
lows of rage, and the hostility of ages? 
Where is the arm which, for eighteen hun- 
dred years, has protected the Church from 
so many storms which have threatened to 
engulf it? 

'* In every other instance, but that of 
Christ, how many imperfections. Where is 
the character which has not vielded, van- 
quished by obstacles? Where is the indi- 
vidual who has never been governed by 
circumstances or places, who has never suc- 
cumbed to the influence of the times, who 
has never computed with any customs or 
passions? From the first day to the last 
He is the same, always the same, majestic 
and simple, infinitely firm, and infinitely 
gentle. 

35 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

"Truth should embrace the universe. 
Such is Christianity, the only religion which 
destroys sectional prejudice, the only one 
which proclaims the unity and the absolute 
brotherhood of the whole human family, 
the only one which is purely spiritual — in 
fine, the only one which assigns to all, with- 
out distinction, for a true country the bosom 
of the Creator, God. Christ proved that He 
was the Son of the Eternal by His disre- 
gard of Time. All His doctrines signify 
only one and the same thing — Eternity. 

" It is true that Christ proposed to our 
faith a series of mysteries. He commands, 
with authority, that we should believe them, 
giving no other reason than those tremendous 
words, ' I am God.' He declares it. What 
an abyss He creates by that declaration be- 
tween Himself and all the fabrications of 
religion. What audacity, what sacrilege, 
what blasphemy, if it were not true. I say 
more: The universal triumph of an affirma- 
tion of that kind, if the triumph were not 



36 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

really that of God Himself, would be a 
plausible excuse and a reason for Atheism. 

** Moreover, in propounding mysteries 
Christ is harmonious with nature, which is 
profoundly mysterious. From whence do I 
come? Whither do I go? Who am I? 
Human life is a mystery in its origin, its 
organization, and its end. In man, and out 
of man, in nature, everything is mysterious. 
And can one wish that religion should not 
be mysterious? The creation and the des- 
tiny of the world are an unfathomable abyss, 
as also is the creation and the destiny of 
each individual. Christianity at least does 
not evade these great questions. It meets 
them boldly. And our doctrines are a solu- 
tion of them for every one who believes. 

"The Gospel possesses a secret virtue, a 
mysterious efficacy, a warmth which pene- 
trates and soothes the heart. One finds in 
meditating upon it that which one experi- 
ences in contemplating the heavens. The 
Gospel is not a book; it is a living being, 
with an action, a power which invades every- 

37 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

thing that opposes its extension. Behold it 
upon this table, this Book surpassing all 
others. (Plere the Emperor solemnly placed 
his hand upon it.) I never omit to read it, 
and every day with the same pleasure. 

" Nowhere is to be found such a series of 
beautiful ideas, admirable moral maxims, 
which defile, like the battalions of a celestial 
army, and which produce in our soul the 
same emotion which one experiences in con- 
templating the infinite expanse of the skies, 
resplendent on a summer's night with all 
the brilliance of the stars. Not only is our 
mind absorbed, it is controlled, and the soul 
can never go astray with this Book for its 
guide. Once master of our spirit, the faith- 
ful Gospel loves us. God even is our 
friend, is our father, and truly our God. 
The mother has no greater care for the 
infant whom she nurses. 

** What a proof of the divinity of Christ! 
With an Empire so absolute, He has but one 
single end, the spiritual amelioration of indi- 
viduals, the purity of conscience, the union, 

38 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 



to that which is true, the holiness of the 

soul. 

" Christ speaks, and at once generations 

become His by stricter, closer ties than 
those of blood— by the most sacred, the 
most indissoluble of all unions. He lights 
up the flame of a love which consumes 
self-love, which prevails over every other 
love. The founders of other religions never 
conceived of this mystical love, which is 
the essence of Christianity, and is beauti- 
fully called Charity. In every attempt to 
effect this thing, namely, to make Himself 
beloved, man deeply feels his own impo- 
tence. So that Christ's greatest miracle 
undoubtedly is the reign of Charity, 

" I have so inspired multitudes that they 
would die for me. God forbid that I should 
form any comparison between the enthusi- 
asm of the soldier and the Christian Charity, 
which are as unlike as their cause. But, 
after all, my presence was necessary; the 
lightning of my eye, my voice, a word from 
me— then the sacred fire was kindled in their 

39 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

hearts. I do, indeed, possess the secret of 
this magical power which lifts the soul, but 
I could never impart it to any one. None 
of my generals ever learned it from me; 
nor have I the means of perpetuating my 
name and love for me in the hearts of men, 
and to effect these things without physical 
means. 

*' Now that I am at St. Helena, now that 
I am alone, chained upon this rock, who 
fights and wins empires for me? Who are 
the courtiers of my misfortune? Who 
thinks of me? Who makes efforts for me 
in Europe? Where are my friends? Yes, 
two or three, whom your fidelity immortal- 
izes, you share, you console my exile." 

(Here the voice of the Emperor trem- 
bled with emotion, and for a moment he 
was silent; he then continued.) 

'* Yes, our life once shone with all the 
brilliance of the diadem and the throne; 
and yours, Bertrand, reflected that splendor, 
as the dome of the Invalides, gilt by us, 
reflects the rays of the sun. But disasters 

40 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

came; the gold gradually became dim. The 
ruin of misfortune and outrage with which I 
am daily deluged has effaced all the bright- 
ness. We are mere lead now, General 
Bertrand, and soon I shall be in my grave. 
" Such is the fate of great men. So it was 
with Caesar, and Alexander; and I, too, am 
forgotten. And the name of a conqueror 
and an Emperor is a college theme. Our 
exploits are tasks given to pupils by their 
tutors, who sit in judgment upon us, award- 
ing censure or praise. And mark what is 
soon to become of me. Assassinated by the 
English oligarchy, I die before my time; 
and my dead body, too, must return to the 
earth, to become food for worms. Behold 
the destiny near at hand of him who has 
been called the Great Napoleon. What an 
abyss between my deep misery and the eter- 
nal reign of Christ, which is proclaimed, 
loved, adored, and which is extending all 
over the earth. Is this to die? Is it not 
rather to live? The death of Christ. It is 
the death of God. 

41 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 



" General Bertrand, if you do not perceive 
that Jesus Christ is God, very well; then I 
did wrong to make you a General." 




42 




NAPOLEON AT ST. HELENA 



THE GRAVE OF BONAPARTE 

On a lone barren isle where the wild roaring billows 

Assail the stern rock and the loud tempests rave. 
The hero lies still, while the dew-drooping willows, 

Like fond weeping mourners, leaned over the grave. 
The lightnings may flash, and the loud thunder rattle, 

He heeds not, he hears not, he's free from all pain; 
He sleeps his last sleep, he has fought his last battle, 

No sound can awake him to glory again. 

Oh, shade of the Mighty, where now are the legions 
That rushed but to conquer when thou led'st them 
on? 
Alas, they have perished in far hilly regions. 

And all save the fame of their triumph is gone. 
The tempest may sound, and the loud cannon rattle, 
They heed not, they hear not, they're free from all 
pain; 
They sleep their last sleep, they have fought their last 
battle. 
No sound can awake them to glory again. 

Yet, spirit immortal, the tomb cannot bind thee, 

For like thine own eagle that soared to the sun, 
Thou springest from bondage, and leavest behind thee 

A name, which before thee no mortal had won. 
Though nations may combat and war's thunders 
rattle. 
No more on thy steed wilt thou sweep o'er the 
plain; 
Thou sleep'st thy last sleep, thou hast fought thy last 
battle. 
No sound can awake thee to glory again. 

43 



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